It is generally known to manufacture knit caps with earflaps, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,199,473, 2,959,537, and 2,294,529, issued to F. J. Wengen, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,957,206, issued to A. Goldstein. The Wengen '529 and '473 patents each discloses forming a knit cap of a seamless tubular blank by closing one end of the tubular blank to form the crown of the cap and then cutting and sewing the lower edge of the tubular fabric to form integral earflaps. However, the cutting and sewing of the lower edge of the tubular blank adds considerable cost to the production of such caps.
The cap of the Wengen '537 patent is formed from a pair of flat knit strips which are joined together along a curved seam line to form the crown and the earflaps are formed by cutting and sewing the lower edge portion of the cap. The cap of the Goldstein patent is formed by a plurality of interknit triangular panels to provide the crown and a separately knit band, provided with earflaps, is attached to the lower edge of the crown of the cap by a sewing operation. The cutting and sewing operation associated with the manufacture of these prior art types of caps also increases the cost of producing the same.